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Elornan Confederation
Of the Elornan Confederation: the great thalassocracyof the Sea of Havens. Lying SE of the Black Mountains andscattered around the Sea of the Havens, is the Confederation of the Elorna. The Sea of Havens (Aer Círban) is so named because of the numerous settlements on the shores of that region of the Eastern Ocean. Hills and mountains make up most of the interior of the lands beyond their coastal enclaves. Across the Sea, to the NE, is a land of fire that the Elornan avoid, perhaps remembering the nightmare dark days of long ago when Morgoth held sway in far Utomno. Origins of the Elorna The first of the Kinn-lai who settled this region lived in modest communities situated by the rocky promontories where their warlords erected citadels of earth and rude stonework, harried, as they were by wild-men and orcs. Eventually mastering boats and sea craft, they became fishers and as they found confidence, they traveled the Sea more widely, becoming traders to Avari of other tribes and to some of the Men who had eventually begun to settle closer to the Ocean (of which they held in fear). Finally, after many years of the Sun in the 1st Age, the people of the disparate coastal Kinn-lai began to collaborate and sought governance, at first allowing their war-lords to hold sway, but as prosperity and increasing numbers and with greater sense of their power, created a council of the wise (drawn from warriors, shipbuilders and merchants) that were drawn from the various communities that had begun to spread along the Sea. Now, they are an increasingly powerful confederation of city states, founding new colonies both along the shores of Endor and on islands overseas. Relations and Diplomacy Playing the diplomats wisely, the members of the Confederation manage to fend off some of the wilder Mannish tribes on their Western borders, playing them off against each other and occasionally using them as mercenaries when expansion of their domains is desired. They have variable relations with the Kindi, a Tatyarin Avari tribe who founded the generally morepeaceable river kingdom of Koronande to their South. There have been occasional raids, instigated by the Elorna. Cities of the Elorna It is on the coast near the river Rusek that the Elornan built their first cities, Lochan (the elder city-state and seat of the Confederation), Caladost (at the mouth of the great river Rusek), the fortress city of Khurmand near the hills of Luindor and Banador on the banks of the lower Talathrek. The Cities’ rich markets collect goods from all around the Sea of Havens. The coastlands here offer some flat and fertile lands, producing enough cereals and other foodstuffs for their needs. The most important colonies are Cheldor on the great eastern island of formerlyuninhabited Mirëdor, the "Jewel-land”; misty Unvirn, on the Southern shores of the great peninsula of Ulshy (comfortably far from its volcanoes); rocky Ubainor, SE of the Black Mtns. and warm, humid Tulwan, South of the river Rusek. The greatest city, Banador, has a population of 35,000. 20,000 have Lochan and Caladost. Khurmand peopled with 15,000. There are many other small cities and towns, both in the original core of the Elorna and its colonies. The combined confederation is of almost half a million Avari. Their cities are mostly of wood, richly dressed. The chief doors of the dwellings of the Elorna face east, the “Doors ofMorning”, a direction they hold in high reverence. The rich woods south of the Rusek furnish a unique wood, Jeedic, from which Elornan woodworkers make the prized Jeedic composite bows of great power and longevity. Caladost is the center of this craft. Ships and Military The ships of the Elorna are their pride and joy, although primitive compared to the work of the shipwrights of Cirdan, only the Numenoreans, of all other peoples of Middle Earth could more skillfully craft sea vessels. Clinker built, they could with-stand the powerful seas of theEastern Ocean and were sailed as far away as Morenore to the South and even to the legendary Sun Lands to the East as rumor has it. They are the most powerful of the nations of the Avari. The combined navies of the Federation can muster a purpose-built warfleet of several hundred ships with their distinctive prows carved in the likeness of sea hawks, manned by 25,000 seamen and 60,000 marines. Their sea-faring fighters wield great composite bows and straight chopping swords of a hardened cunning bronze. Their armour is of tough impermeable fish leather, being a sea–faring people, loath to be burdened by heavy mail or scale. Map of Elornë, the lands of the Elornan Confederation in Romenor. Category:Realms